2009 - I Barely Knew Ya!

Hi!



Hello?



Anyone still out there?



I see you.



Just checking, because I know that I have been enjoying life, liberty and all those fun pursuits lately, that I almost forgot all about you. Have no fear though, as I am back.



With a vengeance.



Okay, maybe that is a little bit harsh, but I am here and here am I.



I have been debating about doing one of those year-end list kind of posts, but that would mean that I would have to actually remember what has happened in the past twelve months. Sure I could go back and read what happened this year, via this blog, but that would take a lot of time as I have posted quite a bit. In fact, if you are bored this weekend, give it a try and let me know what you think.



So, now I just have to figure out how I going to go about this whole year in review thingy. I could do the year politic , entertainment , books , etc. But you can follow those links to get a sampling of that. Remember, they get paid to do it. I think.



As you can see, by that small sampling, there is a lot of this stuff out there.



To me though, the year boils down to this... One in college, five in between, one in diapers, seventeen-plus years of marriage, everyone happy, and healthy (still working on wealthy and wise (although I do consider my family to be very wise, I don't want to be accused of bragging)).



Andy - My college freshman is doing great and as I am writing this, he is watching his favorite show (One Tree Hill) and relaxing. It's good to be the king, or something like that. P.S. don't tell him I told you his favorite show - he'll deny it anyway.



My in-between, Benjy, Jessie, Katie, Maggie, and Danny are all doing well with gymnastics, soccer (Benjy), softball (Jessie and Katie) and just being great kids. School work is an area where they can pick up the pace a little bit, and I am sure that 2010 will see them excel there.



Timmy - My child in diapers is, well, a child in diapers. Seriously though, I don't think a moment goes by when he isn't either smiling or bringing a smile to our faces. If his first five months are any indication, we will be having a blast watching him grow up. As with the rest.



Jenni and I are still happy. Happy to be together. Happy to have our handful of children. Happy to have our health and happy to have great friends. I can think of no one I would rather spend the rest of my life with. Period.



I would like to end on a laugh, and since I don't spend too much time on the web (yeah right!), I leave it to others to find my funny videos and stories, like this one


from Nunly at Bad Habit...

I hope that your 2009 was a great year, I know mine was (well, I will once I get done reading all those posts from this year) and may 2010 bring you many blessings, and a lottery win (don't forget to share).

God Bless!!

Supreme

Funny things went through my mind when I saw this word and spent the next sixty seconds typing away a minor screed about this whole health care thingy...

"I am supreme!" screamed president Obama as his health care package passed through the senate with promises of saving America from herself and making this country one that he could be proud of once and for all. Meanwhile the American people all are wondering, "Who named this guy God."

Anyway, now you get to spend a minute doing the same thing, if you so desire. If you go to the site oneword.com, they have a timer that will keep you honest even. :)

P-p-p-poker Face

I saw this on Facebook the other day, and it's great on more than one level... You will have to just watch it and see what I mean.

Christmas - Guitar Hero Style!

From Bad Habit, this looks so cool!

Follow the link for more info...

A Christmas Prayer

I wanted to share a prayer that my daughter, Katie (10), wrote. Enjoy.

 

 My Christmas Prayer

Dear God,

Do you want to know why I love Christmas so much?

Because it's Jesus' Birthday, the best time of the year!

We also get some really good food.

I love how joy just spreads around.

We might get some new stuff.  

I am also thankful for Jesus, because when Jesus died on the cross, He forgave

all of us for our sins.

 I am also thankful for my family and friends because there is always someone to talk and play with.

I am thankful for the food we eat and the water we drink.

I am thankful for shelter.

I am thankful for teachers that teach me.

I pray for the homeless.  I wonder where they are living right now.

I pray for the hungry and thirsty.

I pray for family, and that we have good health.

The people with no money, what will they have to live on?

I pray for the people that do not have many clothes to wear.

I pray for the people that are sick.

This is my meaning of Christmas, Jesus' Birthday, a day to celebrate, and a day like no other.

The people I love: Nana, Poppa, Mom, Dad, Andy, Benjy, Jessie, Maggie, Danny, Timmy, Uncle Ben, Aunt Dana, Alli, Uncle Geoff, Aunt Jenni, Jacob, and Anna.

Places I care about, my house, Nana and Poppa's house, Uncle Ben and Aunt Dana's house, Uncle Geoff and Aunt Jenni's house, and Church.

Here are some things that I hope come true on Christmas Day, happiness, joy and love.

Amen

Stem

Today's word, and yes it turns out that oneword.com is a daily word challenge, was the word stem.

Yeah, that's what I said as well.

Remember that the challene here is t wrte, whatever, for one minute and see what you get. I would love to know the word in advance and maybe even get in a little research, etc. Except that would be defeating the point. So with that, I present you my thoughts, in one minute, of the word stem...

I took the stem of the tire off and thought that maybe that wasn't a good idea, unfortunately the air was all let out and I was now stuck on the side of the rode with a flat tire, worse than that, a flat tire without a stem to keep it in.

Now it's your turn...

Sunday Shots #7

An Abominable Star of Drool edition...

I'm a star!

Yeah, I drool!

Me and my biggest brother!

ABOMINABLE!!

It's good to be king!

See ya next week!

Halleluia!

Silent Monk style!

(h/t Bad Habit)

Pedal

I admit that this week's offering really messed with my head for some reason. Anyway, here it is, because I'm good like that. Or something. Maybe.

 

I totally violated the rules here and erased all the crap I just wrote. Now I am putting the pedal to the metal and trying to scrape back some dignity and who knows if I will succeed or not, but at least I am trying right? Did I mention that the word this week was pedal?

 

Until next week's edition.

 

Word Up! Or is that out? I'm really confused.

Oh My Head!

No, there isn't anything wrong with it, it just hurts from various things in the news and on various blogs. So, you know what that means? Time to share!

If you use a USB device, like a thumb drive, beware of dangerous viruses! Of course, if you get one head on over to Virus Stompers and get said virus stomped. Thanks Jeff, for sharing this important information.

Want to see some awesome pictures o Glacier National Park? Go here and feast your eyes. You might want to book your next vacation there after seeing them . Trust me.

I wouldn't want to be in Tiger Woods shoes right now.

One of the funniest commercials , as of late! "Sorry Billy, Happy Pony is on, and I'm not missing Happy Pony." I nee to thanks Janet for bringing this to my attention, via Plurk.

Speaking of Plurk, here is a video that talks about the differences between Plurk and Twitter .

There is all kinds of political stuff out there right now between the whole Af-Pack war and health care. I will not be adding links for those, since I figure tat you already know where I stand and besides, it's boring.

I just noticed something weird... My keyboard likes to drop letters at random, it is very annoying, especially since it makes me look like an idiot in the whole spelling thing, of which I am not. Granted I'm not as good as Jenni, but I' not bad either.

With that, I send you off with a holiday tune . Enjoy.

What is It? Answer #3

The answer is Nerds candy.

I do need to make this harder...

What Is It? #3

I apologize for being late with this, I forgot.

 

Here is this week's 'What is it?'

 

INGREDIENTS:

Dextrose, Sugar, Malic Acid, and less than 2% of corn syrup, artificial flavors, Carnauba wax, Color added, Yellow 6.

 

They would also like you to know that these are "Made in a facility that also processes wheat and egg"

 

I hope this is better, so that some of you (I'll keep you nameless, for now) will feel challenged. :)

 

Answer tomorrow.

NaBloPoMo

Is done, now I can go back to my regularly scheduled, um, what is it I do again? Oh, and in case you are keeping count - that's three in a row for me! Yay! I also completed my NaPraGoMo for the second year in a row! Yay me, again!

 

What's that? NaNoWriMo? Uh, did I say I was going to do that this year? Must have slipped my mind. Oops! Well, like the Cubs say, there is always next year, right?

 

 

And Now it Ends

My month of blogging prayers has come to an end. I hope that you have enjoyed these, and who knows, maybe they'll pop up every now and again. God Bless you all!

In the name of the Father,

and of the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Sunday Shots #6

Thanksgiving edition...

Which seemed to be an appropriate time to give Timmy his first taste of food that didn't come directly from Mom.

Um, can I go back to eating at Mom's?

All better now.

Timmy and Momma!

Post-turkey entertainment... UP!

Looking for those 'Black Friday' sales...

Time to decorate the tree...

Thank you Hallmark for the dogs-barking-jingle-bells ornament.

Lights off

Lights on

You know,

See you next week!

Advent Wreath Prayer

Welcome to Advent, that wonderful time of waiting for our Lord and Savior to be born. Below is a prayer for Advent, specifically the Advent wreath, which consists of three purple candle and one pink, each lit on a Sunday of Advent and good for the whole week. All my Sunday School Kindergarten students will hear me saying "purple, purple, pink, purple" for their remaining classes before Christmas = It's a Mr. Miller thing. :)

The following are the Advent wreath prayers that change every week. They are prayed at the lighting of each candle every day during Advent.

Week One:

The first candle is lit, and the prayer for the first week is said.

Priest:

Let us pray.
Stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, O Lord,
and come, so that we may escape through Thy protection
and be saved by Thy help from the dangers
that threaten us because of our sins.
Who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

All: Amen.

During the first week one candle is left burning during the evening meal, at prayersor at bedtime.

Week Two:

Two candles are lit on the second Sunday and allowed to burn as before. Theprayer for the week is:

Priest:

Let us pray.
O Lord, stir up our hearts
that we may prepare for Thy only begotten Son,
that through His coming
we may be made worthy to serve Thee with pure souls.
Through the same Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

Week Three:

Three candles, including the rose candle, are lit on Gaudete, the third Sunday, and during that week. The following prayer is said:

Priest:

Let us pray.
We humbly beg Thee, O Lord,
to listen to our prayers;
and by the grace of Thy coming
bring light into our darkened minds.
Who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

All: Amen.

Week Four:

All four candles are lit on the fourth Sunday and allowed to burn as before. Theprayer said the fourth week is:

Priest:

Let us pray.
Stir up Thy might, we pray Thee, O Lord, and come;
rescue us through Thy great strength so that salvation,
which has been hindered by our sins,
may be hastened by the grace of Thy gentle mercy.
Who livest and reignest for ever and ever.

All: Amen.

See how I did that?

For My Lovely Bride

Her favorite Christmas song. ;-)

Advent Prayer

Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me a wonder at the wisdom and power of Your Father and ours. Receive my prayer as part of my service of the Lord who enlists me in God's own work for justice.

Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me a hunger for peace: peace in the world, peace in my home, peace in myself.

Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me a joy responsive to the Father's joy. I seek His will so I can serve with gladness, singing and love.

Come, long-expected Jesus. Excite in me the joy and love and peace it is right to bring to the manger of my Lord. Raise in me, too, sober reverence for the God who acted there, hearty gratitude for the life begun there, and spirited resolution to serve the Father and Son.

I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, whose advent I hail. Amen.

Phobia Friday #2

It's so exciting that I almost forgot about it. Anyway, here's your weekly phobias...

Ancraophobia- Fear of wind. (Add an extra 'p' and you have a fear of a different kind of wind)

Anginophobia- Fear of angina, choking or narrowness. (Honestly, who doesn't have this? I mean how can this be irrational?)

Anthropophobia- Fear of people or society. (Yeah, I got that!)

Antlophobia- Fear of floods. (Okay, how exactly does antlo equal flood? I would think it would be more in line with a fourteen point buck, myself.)

Apeirophobia- Fear of infinity. (Stay away from Toy Story movies)

That's it for this week. Hope they were enlightening.

A Prayer of Gratitude for God's Blessings

O Lord and Vivifier,
Your grace has achieved for us
all that You had spoken and promised.
Grant us access to the place of Your peace.
For You are our Vivifier,
You are our Consoler,
You are our life Remedy,
You are our Standard of Victory.

Blessed are we, O Lord,
because we have known You!

Blessed are we,
because we have believed in You!

Blessed are we,
because we bear Your wounds
and the sign of Your Blood on our contenances!

Blessed are we,
because You are our great hope!

Blessed are we,
because You are our God forever!

Thanksgiving Prayer

Father in Heaven,

Creator of all and source of all goodness and love,

please look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt gratitude in this time of giving thanks.

Thank you for all the graces and blessings.

You have betowed upon us, spiritual and temporal:

our faith and religious heritage.

Our food and shelter,

our health,

the loves we have for one another,

our family and friends.

Dear Father,

in Your infinite generosity,

please grant us continued graces and blessing throughout the coming year.

This we ask in the Name of Jesus,

Your Son and our Brother.

Amen.

Banjo

So, I was lacking inspiration about three minutes ago, when I remembered that there is a website Oneword that challenges you to write for a minute, that's sixty seconds, about the one word that is shown. This week's word (I think it's a weekly thing) was Banjo, and aside from one misspelling (that I caught) here is what I came up with...

"Banjo!?"

"Yes, the Banjo."

"I don't know how to play the Banjo".

"Doesn't matter, as only seven people throughout human history have ever actually been able to play one."

"What?"

"Seriously, all you have to do is wiggle your finger like this..."

Now it's your turn. Have fun!

The Angelus V

The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.
R- And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. (Hail Mary....)
V- Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R- Be it done unto me according to thy word. (Hail Mary....)
V- And the Word was made Flesh.
R- And dwelt among us. (Hail Mary....)
V- Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R- That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

LET US PRAY: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord,

Thy grace into our hearts;

that, we to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son,

was made known by the message of an Angel,

may by His Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of His Resurrection.

Through the same Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Traditionally, the Angelus is said at 6 - 12 - 6.

Batman Begins... A Chick Flick?

Sure there are lots of guns and masked crusaders, but if you really look at it, objectively, it's really a love story between Bruce Wayne and Rachel Dawes. Just take this line of dialog, for instance:

Rachel Dawes: I never stopped thinking about you. About us. And when I heard you were back, I-I started to hope.
[Rachel kisses Bruce]
Rachel Dawes: But then I found out about your mask.
Bruce Wayne: Batman's just a symbol, Rachel.
Rachel Dawes: [Rachel touches Bruce's face] No, *this* is your mask. Your real face is the one that criminals now fear. The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again.

I mean if that doesn't just scream out "chick flick," what does?

Except if it included, say, vampires and werewolves.

Maybe.

Prayer for the Gift of Wisdom

Because who doesn't need it?

Great is the wisdom of the Lord!

God Almighty,

Your Wisdom includes An understanding of what is fair,

What is logical,

what is true,

What is right and what is lasting.

It mirrors Your pure intellect!

I entreat You to grant me such Wisdom,

That my labours may reflect Your insight.

Your Wisdom expands in Your creations,

Displaying complexity and multiplicity.

Your Wisdom is an eternity ahead of man.

May Your wisdom flourish forever!

What is it? Answer #2

The item that I wrote about yesterday was (drum roll):

Crunch 'n Munch Buttery Toffee (Popcorn with Peanuts)

Good news? it has 0g of Trans Fat (must be all that soy). Oh, and it's pretty tasty as well. I think you can get the 4oz box at Wal-Mart for $1.25.

Enjoy!

So, Nobody's Home

Yep.

No distractions.

No noise.

No crying.

No whining.

No joy.

No fun.

I miss my family.

Prayer before Starting on a Journey

Jenni and the kids, well six of them anyway, are traveling to the Dells with some friends today. So, I thought I would start their journey off with a Prayer before Starting a Journey for them, and for everyone that is traveling for the Thanksgiving weekend. Safe travels, and God Bless!

My holy Angel Guardian,

ask the Lord to bless the journey which I undertake,

that it may profit the health of my soul and body;

that I may reach its end, and that,

returning safe and sound,

I may find my family in good health.

Do thou guard, guide and preserve us.

Amen.

What is it? #2

Since I actually had someone guess last week when I introduced this segment, (thanks Jeff!) I figured I would give it another go around. So, if you are ready, here is this week's food item:

Ingredients: Sugar, Corn Syrup, peanuts, popcorn, butter (pasteurized sweet cream, salt, and annatto(color)), margarine (partially hydrogenated soybean oil, liquid soybean oil, water, salt sweet dairy whey, soybean lecithin, mono and diglycerides, sodium benzoate, added as a preservative, artificial flavor, colored with beta carotene and vitamin A palmitate) soybean and/or cottonseed oil, salt soybean lecithin, baking soda, corn oil, BHA, BHT.

Whew! Any guesses? Like last time, the answer will be posted in approximately 24 hours.

Happy guessing!

Sunday Shots #5

We'll call this one, Fun with Trains...

Here's the architect of the great train plan, and his able-bodied journeyman.

Supervising the trains from his seat of power, in dispatch.

"Okay Duncan*, you better slow up or you're going to run into Skarloey*."

"Hey Duncan, did you hear me?"

"Aye, slowing down now."

"Thank you."

"Hey! Where did everybody go?"

Have a great day!!

* These are friends of Thomas the Tank Engine.

Prayer of Thanks for People

God of Love,
I thank You for the people in my life
who are easy to love.
I thank You for my family and friends
who understand my actions,
who support me in my decisions,
and whose presence can lift the burden of a thorny day.

Help me with those who are difficult to love.
When they come at me with criticism
and wild expectations,
when they ignore me
or try to bend me to their will,
let me recognize their flaws and their dangers.
But then let me remember your attitude toward them,
and lead me to see them
in the light of Your love.

Amen.

So, it's Saturday

Which of course means it is nearing midnight, because like you, I usually don't read blogs on Saturday.

This shouldn't be so, but it is.

Maybe someone should do something about it.

Any volunteers?

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, make me holy.

Body of Christ, save me.

Blood of Christ, fill me with love.

Water from Christ's side, wash me.

Passion of Christ, strengthen me.

Good Jesus, hear me.

Within your wounds, hide me.

Never let me be parted from you.

From the evil enemy, protect me.

At the hour of my death, call me.

And tell me to come to you.

That with your saints I may praise you.

Through all eternity.

Amen.